Shin Tennis no Oujisama JAPAN Jersey with surnames sewn onto it

Title: Shin Tennis no Oujisama JAPAN Jersey with surnames sewn onto it
Price: 10,800 yen (inclusive of tax)
Material: 100% polyester
Date of release: Early December 2010
You can purchase the jersey with your favourite player's surname. Choices include Echizen, Tezuka, Ooishi, Fuji, Kikumaru, Inui, Kawamura, Momoshiro, Kaidou, Yukimura, Sanada, Yanagi, Yagyuu, Niou, Marui, Kirihara, Atobe, the Oshitari cousins, Mukahi, Shishido, Ootori, Hiyoshi, Shiraishi, Chitose, Toyama, Kite, Akutsu, Tachibana and Hirakoba.
Purchase from: Mekke!

Romaji lyrics of Gather by Ao to Bin to Kan

Title: Gather
Artiste: Ao to Bin to Kan (Atobe Keigo, Sanada Genichirou, Oshitari Yuushi, Kikumaru Eiji, Sengoku Kiyosumi, Fuji Shuusuke, Kirihara Akaya & Echizen Ryoma)
Lyrics: Miyazaki Ayumi
Melody: Miyazaki Ayumi
Arrangement: Shimada Mitsuru
Date of release: 6 July 2005
Catalog number: NECM-10026
Total run time: 5 minutes 23 seconds

subete dakishimete
todoketai mirai e
kono negai wo shinjite
aruite yuku dake

mou wasure you
kinou no nayami wa iranai
asu wa mata sugu yatte kuru
sonna tsurasa nante
dare ni demo aru sa
hitori kiri janai
mawari miwatashi tara

mienai mirai ni
obieru koto wa nai
kowaku wa nai
furi mukanai de
ato sukoshi no yuuki ga areba ii

owaranai sekai de (namida wo)
mitsuketai kotae wo (futte)
ryoute hiroge ima sugu uketometai (koko kara)
subete dakishimete (ima sugu)
todoketai mirai e (ashita e)
kono negai wo shinjite
aruite yuku dake

donna yume wo mite
kake nukete kita
nayami ya itami wa
kazoe kirenai hazu
sotto sashi nobeta
sono saki ni aru
natsukashii nukumori
wasurenai de itai

mugen ni tsunagaru
asu e tsuzuku michi
tomeru koto wa
dare mo dekinai
mada shiranai yuuki ga aru kagiri

tomaranai sekai de (hitotsu ni)
sagashitai gooru wo (atsumete)
hitori de wa mitsuke rarenai to shitemo (kono mama)
ima wo dakishimete (chikara wo)
takushitai omoi wo (shinjite)
hitotsu hitotsu atsumete aruite yuku dake

yuzurenai mirai e
toki hanatsu kokoro wo
afure yuku chikara wo
subete te ni shite

owaranai sekai de (namida wo)
mitsuketai kotae wo (futte)
ryoute hiroge ima sugu uketometai (koko kara)
subete dakishimete (ima sugu)
todoketai mirai e (ashita e)
kono negai wo shinjite aruite yuku dake

Tennis no Oujisama Doubles no Oujisama GIRLS, BE GRACIOUS! (Nintendo DS)

Title: Tennis no Oujisama Doubles no Oujisama GIRLS, BE GRACIOUS!
Date of release: 5 March 2009
Price: 5,250 yen (inclusive of tax)
Produced by: Konami Digital Entertainment

Under the "Doubles no Oujisama" game releases, this version allows the player to play the younger sister of two siblings who are good at tennis. The setting of this girl is a Year 2 student from Ourin Junior High. She is voiced by Kobayashi Yumiko. The aim of the game is to form a mixed doubles pair with the characters and win the tournament.

In the girls version, the following characters are featured i.e. you can form a pair with this character:

1) Echizen Ryoma
2) Atobe Keigo
3) Shiraishi Kuranosuke
4) Mizuki Hajime
5) Sengoku Kiyosumi
6) Tezuka Kunimitsu
7) Kikumaru Eiji
8) Kamio Akira
9) Inui Sadaharu
10) Kaidou Kaoru
11) Niou Masaharu

Other characters will also appear in the form as rival pairs.

Besides training for the tournament, there are also activities to build up the relationship between the partners. If both versions are linked, there are special events available for selection.

For those who purchase both versions, you can use the coupon in the game package to redeem for an original CD titled "On The Radio" which features 6 seiyuus e.g. Minagawa Junko, Okiayu Ryotarou, Suwabe Junichi, Nagai Sachiko, Aragaki Tarusuke and Hosoya Yoshimasa. The redemption is valid till 10 May but all delivery fees for the CD is borne by the buyer of the games. Please note that redemption is only for addresses within Japan.

OVA Vol 5 Information

OVA Vol 5's DVD will be released on 24 Nov 2006 and consists of episodes 8 and 9. More information as follows:

Specifications: 46 mins / Colour / Dolby Digital Stereo
Price: 5250 yen
Catalog Number: BCBA-2465
Freebies: 2 photos of characters & audio commentary by Sengoku Kiyosumi and Dan Taiichi

Ep 8: Arashi no Yokan (The signs of a storm)
About Hyotei's resolve to beat Seigaku as revenge for the defeat they suffered during the Kantou Tournament first round and Ryoma's first meeting with Tooyama Kintarou from Shitenbouji.

Ep 9: Orenai Kokoro (The heart which refuses to admit defeat)
About the S3 match between Momoshiro Takeshi and Oshitari Yuushi

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Toriumi Kousuke-san!

Today's the 33rd birthday of Toriumi Kousuke-san who plays Sengoku Kiyosumi from Yamabuki! His hometown is in Chikasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture and his blood type is O. Currently, he's under the management of Arts Vision and had graduated from Nippon Narration Engi Kenkyuujou. According to his official website, his hobbies are singing, cooking and fashion. Toriumi-san is part of two different groups i.e. STA*MEN helmed by Suwabe Junichi as well as P.K.O with Suzuki Chihiro and Saeki Tomo. For P.K.O, Toriumi-san is the leader. Due to the fact that Saeki is taking a rest from work due to health reasons, P.K.O is now reduced to a duo.

Besides Tenipuri, Toriumi-san's voice can also be heard in animes like Captain Tsubasa, Shin Shirahime Densetsu, Spiral, tactics, To Heart 2, NARUTO, PAPUWA, PEACEMAKER, Princess Princess, ONE PIECE, Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru and Yakitate Japan.

Under the name of Sengoku Kiyosumi, he has released 2 solo singles and 2 group singles in the units Ao to Bin to Kan (Gather) and Pull Tab to Kan (Wonderful Days).

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Akutsu Jin!

Today's the birthday of Akutsu Jin from Yamabuki! Although he has only played one official match against Echizen, I'm sure many people will remember his fierce facial expressions and unique image which stands out from the majority of bishonen characters in Tenipuri. To me, he is like the mascot of Yamabuki together with Sengoku Kiyosumi. If Sengoku is the ladies' man, Akutsu should be the one who scares people away. ^__^ At the same time, his childhood buddy Kawamura Takashi is of the gentle type which is yet another example of extremes exhibited in his life. Although Akutsu has near-perfect attributes to be a top-class player, his lack of interest in tennis as well as the seemingly lack of challenges in the sport (perceived by him) had spurred him to leave the Yamabuki team after he lost to Echizen. It's not so much of disappointment but rather he is convinced that there is nobody who can give him as much satisfaction on the courts so he chooses to abandon this sport. Personally, I feel that it's a pity because there ARE indeed better players around but it's certain that he won't appear as a player in the National Arc.

Frankly speaking, I didn't really like Akutsu initially before he played the Tokyo final match with Echizen. He gave the impression that he was just a gangster-like character who behaved rashly but as I got to know his past and why he put on such an expression to the people around him, I accepted him for who he is and soon came to find him very cool and unique. Actually, he's not that bad after all because he has been looked down on by others since young for not conforming to standards and uses his bad-tempered behaviour to appear tough as retalliation. Besides, there is a strange affinity with Akutsu personally because we are of the same zodiac sign and blood type thus explaining why we are the "my-pace" sort who do not really care for how others perceive us.

For those who are interested in reading more about Akutsu Jin's seiyuu, Sasaki Nozomu, please click here for my previous feature during Sasaki-san's birthday.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Sasaki Nozomu-san!

Today is the 39th birthday of Sasaki Nozomu-san, the seiyuu who plays Akutsu Jin in Tenipuri and hails from Hiroshima. His blood type is O and his official fanclub is named NOZOMU & Rabbits Company i.e. NRC for short. He went to Tokyo when he was 19 and made his debut in 1986.

He has a lot of experience in voice-acting and doing narrations as seen from his career biography. Besides Tenipuri, I've also heard him in Monster as the intelligent and mysterious twin brother Johan Liebert. Other than that, Sasaki-san's voice can also be heard in works like Yu Yu Hakusho, Captain Tsubasa, Yu Gi Oh, Rurounin Kenshin, BLOOD+, Garasu no Kamen and Gundam. He also does narrations and voice overs for Japanese and overseas movies/dramas as seen from his official agency website .

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Dan Taiichi!

The first birthday celebration post of 2006 belongs to Dan Taiichi from Yamabuki! Frankly speaking, I didn't really like him when Dan-kun first appeared. The way he spoke got on my nerves. I'm not referring to the fact that he uses formal speech but rather the tendency to put desu at the end of every sentence. In a later episode when he tried to copy Echizen in terms of dressing, that made me wonder why he had to go to such an extent so as to follow Akutsu's advice which he should learn from Echizen. Nevertheless, I can't bring myself to dislike him since he is such a kind and likeable guy after all. Maybe I'll say that I'm neutral towards him by now since I look upon him a younger brother.

Dan-kun's seiyuu is Kobayashi Yumiko who also happens to play Azuma Kazuma in Yakitate Japan and Sara in Love Hina. I've not watched other animes which she took part in though. Talking about Kobayashi-san, I didn't notice that she appeared in Yakitate until more than 30 episodes later when I happened to find her name familiar in the credits. As such, I did not have a clue that Dan-kun and Azuma-kun had the same voice before I did a search to confirm my guess. I don't really pay much attention to the cast list unless I'm interested to see if I guessed correctly when I heard a familiar voice. As such, I wasn't aware of who Dan-kun's seiyuu was so I didn't link it back to Azuma-kun. Come to think of it, if I didn't know that the seiyuu is a lady, I would have thought that the voice belongs to a guy. Seiyuus are such incredible people that some of them can sound entirely different in another series.

Kobayashi-san was born on 18 June 1979 in Chiba Prefecture's Youka Ichiba City and graduated from Wayo Joushi Daigaku's Japanese Literature Faculty. Subsequently, she also graduated from Tokyo Seitoku Daigaku's Traditional Japanese Culture Department in March 2002. Wow, that means she must be pretty strong in the Japanese language? Kobayashi-san does a lot of young boy roles and her nickname is Shupicchi which is said to be what becomes of her full name if you say it quickly. Some of the other animes where her voice can be heard includes Inuyasha, Ueki no Housoku, NARUTO, Shakugan no Shana, Gundam, Futakoi and Peacemaker.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Lucky Sengoku!

Today's the birthday of Sengoku Kiyosumi, the lucky guy from Yamabuki! His pet phrase is "Lucky" especially when he manages to finish a shot according to his expectation or something goes his way. However, his luck doesn't seem to extend to his matches in Tenipuri since he has either lost or drew his games which goes against his reputation of being the top player in Yamabuki and a member of the Senbatsu camp for consecutive years. The first time, he lost to Momo during the Tokyo finals and the next time, he lost to Kamio in the Kantou quarter-finals. Momo and Kamio happen to be rivals too, be it on the courts or in love i.e. for Tachibana An's affections. That's such an uncanny coincidence! As for the Senbatsu Singles 3 match against Bobby Max, it's a pity that it ended in a draw due to exhaustion for both players or Sengoku could have won a match for the first time in the anime. Oh, there's a match he did win against Momo during the Senbatsu camp but that wasn't official.

Although he may seem like a frivolous guy who never conceals his liking for the company of the opposite sex, he's actually using it to hide his true self. It may look as if he's not concerned about winning or he is not particular about playing tennis. However, when he lost to a junior for the second time after the Kamio match, this led him to rethink what he has to do in order to win so he took up boxing to train his reflexes and build up his physical strength. Nobody expected Sengoku to be so serious about winning so he gave everyone a surprise when he showed off his new physique and skills during the Senbatsu camp. And he is the only guy in the anime who shows a deep interest in girls as compared to the characters who are head-over-heels in love with tennis which in turn makes him stand out from the rest. ^__^